A timer counts down a length of time you choose and takes no interest in what the clock says when you start it. That is the whole difference between this section and the alarm pages, and it is why the duration pages are named after amounts — three minutes, twenty-five minutes, an hour and a half — rather than moments.
The kitchen supplies most of the short intervals worth getting right. Karak needs the milk brought up slowly and then a few minutes on the boil, and it turns bitter if it is forgotten. Rice for a biryani wants a set time off the heat with the lid on, luqaimat need to come out of the oil before the coating darkens, and a machboos left to rest for the wrong ten minutes is a different dish. Grilling on a balcony in November is a matter of minutes per side, not of watching.
Away from the stove
- Interval work in an air-conditioned gym when the outdoor track is out of the question
- Twenty-five minute focus blocks through the quiet middle of a Ramadan afternoon
- Revision timed against the real length of a paper
- Rest between sets, rounds on a bag, and padel warm-ups
- Rehearsing a talk against a strict slot before the slot arrives
The browser rule from the alarm section applies here too: the countdown runs in the tab, and the tab has to stay open for the alert to sound. On a laptop propped on the counter, or in a second tab beside the one you are working in, that costs nothing. On a phone that locks itself after half a minute it is a genuine limitation and worth knowing before you depend on it.
Durations run from a single second to several hours, so the awkward lengths — seven minutes, forty minutes, ninety minutes — each have a page instead of being rounded to something near enough. If you already know the number you want, going straight to it removes the fiddling entirely.
Common questions
How is a timer different from the alarm clock?
A timer counts down a length you choose — twelve minutes, say — from the moment you start it. The alarm fires at a named point on the clock, such as 6:30 am. Use whichever matches how you are thinking about it.
Does it keep counting if I switch to another tab?
Usually yes, although browsers slow down background pages, so the display may catch up in jumps. Either way the tab has to stay open; closing it ends the countdown.
Is there a timer for an odd length like seven minutes?
Yes. Every minute up to four hours and every second up to three minutes has a page, so unusual lengths do not have to be rounded to something close.
What happens at zero?
An alert tone plays through your device's speakers and continues until you return to the tab and stop it, so you do not have to sit and watch the numbers.
Can I use it as a kitchen timer?
That is one of the most common uses. A tablet propped on the counter takes one tap to start and there is nothing to unlock first.
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